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Barry MacDonnell's
Toolbox for WordPerfect

Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2024 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

Page updated Sep 12, 2107

SUPDELAY - "Suppress and Delay" - A macro to automatically set up "second pages" with "page identifiers" using both the Suppress and Delay features

Download SUPDELAY.ZIP (07/12/04; 4,284 bytes)

Compatible with WordPerfect 6 and later versions

WordPerfect 11 users: See important information about using macros in the first release of WP11 (11.0.0.233) at the top of this page.

Downloading, Documentation, Modifications, and Support

See also -

•  Headers, Footers, and Watermarks - how to start, stop, suppress, edit, change, replace, delay, overlay, and remove them

•  LETTERHD - An example of an automated letterhead template

•  To suppress printing and/or delaying graphic images see the GraphicTips page

 

NOTE: WordPerfect menu choices (below) refer to the <WordPerfect> menu (right-click on the top menu bar for a choice of menus). If you use a <Microsoft Word> menu, the choices might be absent from your menu (but not from the program), or they might be found under another menu selection. See here for more.

Some information about the manual methods of suppressing and/or delaying items in documents and templates

It might be helpful to understand the difference between -

(A) suppressing items in WordPerfect so they don't appear on a given page, and -

(B) delaying items so they will appear starting on a particular page further in the document (e.g., on page 2 if there is a page 2).

See these pages on the Toolbox site for more information:

•  The Suppress feature

•  The Delay Codes feature

Using these features manually as explained on those two linked pages will let you do the same things (and more) that you can do using the macro below. But the macro illustrates how several WordPerfect features can be combined to produce a custom formatted dolcument.


Use a macro to suppress and/or delay items in documents and templates

The SupDelay ("Suppress and/or Delay") macro can be downloaded from the left sidebar.

It is useful if the second and subsequent page of letters, reports, etc., have different headers, footers, watermarks, and margins, or when you don't want a page number on Page 1. 

[Note that you can also do the same things manually in the current document or in a template; see links above.]

Many people who use preprinted letterhead stationery, "printed-on-the-fly" stationery, or custom styles for reports often set margins and page numbering differently for the first page than for second pages. This macro can do it with a mouse click.

Example:

Assume you want to use -- or have already used -- Header A, Footer A, and/or Watermark A for your first page letterhead design (or to supplement the design of preprinted stationery), or for the title page of a company report. But you don't want these items on page 2 and following pages (hence, you want to discontinue them starting on page 2).

Assume you want to use -- or have already used -- Header B, Footer B, and/or Watermark B for other things (such as a name, date, document title or page number) on the second and subsequent pages -- if there are any such pages in a given document -- but you don't want them displayed on page 1 (hence you want them suppressed on page 1).

Also assume you have set new margins on Page 1, and want to return the margins to some preferred default setting on subsequent pages, if there are any. (Sometimes body text "runs over.")

Note that you don't have to create any header, footer, or watermark, but if you do the macro will suppress or delay the appropriate structures on the appropriate pages, like this:

Page 1: Page 2 and subsequent pages
(if any):
Header A available (Header A discontinued)
(Header B suppressed) Header B available
Footer A available (Footer A discontinued)
(Footer B suppressed) Footer B available
Watermark A available (Watermark A discontinued)
Watermark B available Watermark B available
No page numbers on Page 1 Page numbering continues (if page numbering was turned on)
Page margins can be customized for Page 1 with Format, Margins
Page margins reset to 1" (the WordPerfect default setting, but this can be easily changed; see Reset margins)
[Sample screen shot - Pg. 1]
[Sample screen shot - Pg. 2]

Method:

Step 1. First, go to the top of the document and set up any desired headers, footers, watermarks (of type A or type B, or both), page numbering, and (optionally) new page margins for just the first page.

Step 2. Then play the macro. 

Step 3. (Optional) If you use SUPDELAY with correspondence, reports, etc., you can add some simple commands to insert the current date, several hard returns, etc., on the first page when the macro plays. See the comments at the top of the macro and the disabled code segment at the bottom.

Tips

☼  You can play the macro in a template (while editing the template itself) for a permanent Page 1/Page 2+ setup.

☼  You can play the macro in your current document before, during, or following text entry and header/footer setup.

☼  On page 2 you can create a new Header A, Footer A, and Watermark A instead of discontinuing (stopping) them. The newly created elements will simply take over on page 2, automatically discontinuing the same elements that are on page 1. For more detailed information, see Headers, Footers, and Watermarks - how to start, stop, suppress, change, replace, delay, overlay, and remove them.

☼  See the (very) basic macro in Footnote 2 that shows how to create a header and a footer, and exit from each such "substructure".

☼  Some of the above formatting was used to create an automated letterhead template, which you can download and examine from the Library.

Note

¤  There was a known bug in the Suppress feature in WordPerfect 11 through WordPerfect X3 which caused the [Suppress] code to be deleted. (It was fixed in WordPerfect X4.) See Footnote 3 below.



Footnote 1
[This footnote has been moved to its own page: DelayCodes.html]


Footnote 2

Here is a very basic (i.e., demonstration) macro that creates a Header A and a Footer B in a document without such substructures. Note that it simply types some text into each item, but you can modify the code to insert other things.

// Purpose: Demonstrate creating a HeaderA and FooterA at the
// beginning of a document that does not have either of these items.

// Macro begins

pExitSubstructures ()
PosDocTop
HeaderA (Create!)
Type ("THIS IS HEADER A ")
pExitSubstructures ()
PosDocTop
FooterA (Create!)
Type ("THIS IS FOOTER A ")
pExitSubstructures ()
PosDocTop
Quit

Procedure pExitSubstructures ()
// Exit from any header, footer, footnote, endnote,
// text box, graphic caption, etc.:
While (?Substructure)
    vSubDoc:=?CurrentSubDoc
    SubstructureExit
    If ((vSubDoc=10) or (vSubDoc=11))    
        BoxEnd (Save!)
    EndIf
EndWhile
vBoxType:=?BoxContentType
If (vBoxType=1 or vBoxType=3) BoxEnd (Save!) Endif
EndProc

// Macro ends


Footnote 3

There was a known bug in the Suppress feature in WordPerfect 11 through WordPerfect X3 which caused the [Suppress] code to be deleted.

(It was fixed in WordPerfect X4.)

From Charles Rossiter, Corel C_Tech, relating to WordPerfect 11/sp1 through X3 (quoted here):

"There is a known bug [reported in Corel's support database, Answer ID 207691: "A Suppress code is deleted if the suppress criteria are changed... If any suppress option is removed, the suppress code is deleted."] -- So, if you set suppress criteria on page 107, so as to suppress the page header, and then add a suppress of the footer, you will probably have no suppress code, or suppress actions changed."

Two possible solutions:

1. From CyndyZ on WordPerfect Universe (here):

"...if you enter the Suppress code from scratch (no prior suppress code in existence) and you check all items you want suppressed, they will all properly suppress. But if a Suppress code already exists, when you go to put in another one, you'll see the item already being suppressed is already checked. You then check the additional items, and click OK thinking, as you should, that now all of the newly checked items plus the previously checked items will be suppressed. But unfortunately WP records only the new checkmarks as checked items, and unchecks the previously checked items.

Fortunately the workaround is easy, as long as you remember it: simply uncheck, then re-check any items that were already checked and which you do want to remain checked (suppressed)...."

2. From Charles Rossiter (continued from above quote):

"... To overcome this, you should delete the Suppress code to be changed, and then create a new Suppress code.

My records show this as a bug in WPWin11 with SP1, and later versions. The following macro can be used to replace the Suppress keystroke:

// Suppress.wcm macro begins here
// To remedy bug in WPWin11 and later which deletes
// a Suppress code;
// Menu could be edited to replace Suppress by this macro

nnn = ?PageSuppress

// Is Page Number Bottom Center selected? (value 2)
// or PageNumbering selected (value 1)

nnn =(nnn%4)

InvokeDialog (PageSuppressDlg)
Wait (5)
// Reverse current setting twice
SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}") // Header A
SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}") // Header B
SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}") // Footer A
SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}") // Footer B
SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}") // Watermark A
SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}") // Watermark B
Switch (nnn)
// Page NumberBottomCenter
CaseOf 2: SendKeys ("{Alt+n}{Space}{Tab}")
// Page Numbering
CaseOf 1: SendKeys ("{Space}{Space}{Tab}{Tab}")
// Neither
CaseOf 0: SendKeys ("{Tab}{Tab}{Tab}")
EndSwitch

// Macro ends here

[Ed. - To copy this macro into your own program, see here. You can assign this macro to a menu (replacing the original Format, Page, Suppress menu item), keystroke, or toolbar button; see here.]